


Hand Me a Chart So I Know How to Start

by KrisseyCrystal (IceCreAMS)



Series: One Fixed Point (Tales of - Modern-Day AU) [8]
Category: Tales of Symphonia
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drabble, F/M, Fluff, Photographs, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:55:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25880932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceCreAMS/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal
Summary: Colette agrees to be Lloyd's model for a sunny afternoon.
Relationships: Colette Brunel/Lloyd Irving
Series: One Fixed Point (Tales of - Modern-Day AU) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/568189
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Hand Me a Chart So I Know How to Start

**Author's Note:**

> also-known-as: these fools be in love, but articulating that is difficult when being in love is what they've always known
> 
> thanks to the "Asperger Hero" commenter who requested this drabble <3 hope this is what you were looking for

“Lloyd.”

“Huh?”

Colette moves a finger up to her lips to point out the tongue adorably sticking out of his when he’s lost in the throes of focus, but quickly she shakes her head. Her face blooms red. “No. Uh. Never mind.”

“Okay.” 

“So this is for a project?”

“Yeah.” 

Lloyd’s tongue is very pink, poking out of the corner of his mouth again. His face scrunches up when he brings the Polaroid to his face. Though the small glass view, Colette appears just as he knows her to be, but cropped at her thigh. Her hair’s pretty in the sunlight, though. Shining. Luminous. 

He snaps the picture and pulls the camera away as it clicks and whirrs. 

Colette hurries to his side to peer over his shoulder. “How do I look—oh wow! This is actually one of those genuinely older Polaroids! I thought you got a new one from the store.”

“Me? What? No. Dad let me borrow his for that collage thing I gotta do.” Lloyd pinches the white edge of the printed picture and shakes it out. “That’s why I was gone last weekend. Had to take the train out to Iselia.”

“I didn’t know Dirk had a Polaroid,” Colette hums as the picture finally comes into view.

There’s something about the soft glow of the spring sun and the blue sky at her back that brings out the best features of Colette: her round face and wide, blue eyes. The white airy, short-sleeve button-up she wears with the crisscrossing purple grid print has a tie at the front of her waist. It flatters her figure—a figure Lloyd hadn’t entirely been aware was as compelling as it was. Has she always had such a subtle sweep to her hips? 

This is his best friend. He’s known her for forever. But now, he thinks he might be seeing her in an entirely different light. 

Literally.

“Wow,” Colette breathes, eyes wide. “I really look like that?”

Lloyd swallows and doesn’t mean to sound quite as hoarse as he does. “Better.” 

Their eyes snap to meet over Lloyd’s shoulder, both blown wide. 

Slowly, Colette grins. Lloyd smiles back.

“Let’s take some more.”

“You read my mind! Here, you should wear these sunglasses—”

“—can I borrow your jacket? I’m gonna try looking like one of those models on the JC Penney television ads.” 

“Colette, you’re a genius!”

They spend the rest of that spring afternoon posing in the sun and with far more pictures than Lloyd needs for his collage project. It’s a small price to pay, he thinks, for having as many copies of Colette’s laughing smile as he does to pin to the corkboard on his dorm room wall later.

**Author's Note:**

> also, somewhere out there, Zelos gets a chill up his spine the instant a country bumpkin implies that JC Penney ads are the height of fashion modeling
> 
> title comes from “Thumbnail” by Louie Zong, a super cute song that fits the mood
> 
> [tw](https://twitter.com/kissykrissey) / [tblr](https://somefinelipstickonthatpig.tumblr.com/)


End file.
